DENVER — There has been some public connection between the Colorado Rockies and Toronto Blue Jays’ ace Marcus Stroman. The 28-year-old righty with an accomplished career could be on the block given Toronto’s place in the standings.
While this may make sense given the two teams positioning and the Colorado Rockies now clear need for a another starter, it also doesn’t in a way.
General Manager Jeff Bridich has made fewer trades than any other front office member in baseball since he took the reins of the Rox. He has found a common trading partner with the Blue Jays, making four deals and most notably shipping Troy Tulowitzki up north and getting Seunghwan Oh a few years later.
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This, on the surface, does spell that there could be something worked out. But the Jays did have a lot of turnover in the front office this offseason, some of which included the very people who helped to facilitate those deals. It seems rather unlikely that the Rockies can make any trades, let alone one for a pretty renowned pitcher. Bridich’s evaluation system is such a zig from the current zag of baseball that it has hampered Colorado’s ability to make deals. It’s also the same against-the-grain approach that has netted them two postseason appearances on clubs not projected to make the postseason and brought questions about spending on some odd free agent pickups.
There are negatives and positives here no doubt, but will the Rockies break the mold of consent competitiveness for capitalizing on a window of opportunity? The answer has continually been no.
Marcus Stroman would be different than the past Rockies deadline pickups. With a year of team control after this season, he could very easily pickup over 200 innings. The impact and contract status isn’t the same as the short-term relievers the club has picked up in the past two runs. His would actually be mortgaging part of the farm, which has already been falling down system rankings.